Sanctuary
by CrimsonPearlAlice
Summary: When William is finally given a second chance, he is determined not to step out of line even if he will have to earn his keep the hard way. No one seems to be letting him in, so how can he prove he's worth the effort if he's not given a chance? But after Laura comes in and unintentionally tweaks with Aelita's emotions, she may be the only person who can connect with him.


Conflicted

William was glad that he had been accepted as a Lyoko Warrior, he really was. He may seem like a bit of a rough edged guy on the outside, but he just wanted to prove that he was worth keeping around. After Xana had taken control of him, he wasn't sure if he would ever be given a second chance again, but now that he was receiving it, he wasn't going to let it slip through his fingers. Sure he would have preferred that Xana stayed silent, but now that it's reawakened he was going to do everything he could to put an end to it once and for all.

But even though he was a part of the group, didn't mean that he was a _part_ of it. if that made sense. He had tried to kill the others, and he knew that they would be lying if there were times when they didn't want to try to kill them either. But even though he was possessed, it had been his cocky attitude that got him caught. That wasn't the only thing- the others, they had special connections with each other, sure William and Yumi were kind of close but he knew that he could never compete with Ulrich. The only reason he messed with him was because he liked to see him squirm, he liked to see him lose his temper just so he could be reminded that Ulrich wasn't perfect, no matter how much he might pretend to be. Besides, the way Yumi looked at him... it wasn't the same way she looked at Ulrich. William had tried to kill her, whereas Ulrich was always there to save her and sweep her off her feet. Yumi saw William as a friend, a brother, not a lover. William had come to terms with that. It had taken a while, but he had. Being in Xana's control had actually helped him come to terms with it. He had seen what he was doing, he had watched himself do it, and he saw how he was used to try to kill the Lyoko warriors, kill Yumi. She would never accept him after that.

While he was under Xana's control, it seemed that Xana was using William to get to Yumi. William thought that perhaps but some miracle of chance, Yumi had started to like him while he was under Xana's control. But he had quickly shook those thoughts away, she felt bad for him, pitied him, she didn't love him. Not like he loved her anyways. But the fact that Xana used Yumi's possible affection for William against her was one of the worst parts.

For a while, William couldn't see how he would carry on. Even after everyone let him back into their lives and Yumi started to speak to him again, it felt like everything she said was out of pity, there was no ring in her voice, no light in her eyes, she was lifeless when she spoke to him. With Ulrich, she was so... alive. It was like she was happy just to see him smile, and the same could be said for him, he just wanted Yumi to be happy.

For a while, he wasn't sure what to do. He continued to help the Lyoko Warriors with every ounce of strength he had left, because that was the only way to prove that he had something left to give. He began to understand that life would go on, even if he was numb from Yumi's subtle rejection. Perhaps if he hadn't been taken prisoner by Xana and he had been given more time to win her over instead of being locked on Lyoko as a prisoner, it could have worked out, but it didn't. He remembered falling out of the scanners and everyone hugging him all at once. It had only taken a moment for him to lock eyes with Yumi and see that she cared for him, of course she did, but she only cared for him like the others did, like Jeremy and Odd and Aelita.

His love for her was, and always will be unrequited. He knew that. But he could live with it, as long as she was a part of his life, and he could see her happy, he would be okay. He may not like it, but he could carry on. He began to see that his scorning of Ulrich had been stupid, and although William refused to give up his competitive nature towards him, the two were able to stand each other, and in a strange half hating way, become friends. Lyoko had brought them closer, and eventually William was even glad to call someone as brave and reckless as Ulrich his friend. "An enemy of my enemy is my friend," that was what Ulrich had said after one mission, William grinned, put a hand on his shoulder, and nodded. Neither of them were going to say sorry, but neither of them needed to. It was implied.

He became quick friends with Odd, with William taking on more of a big brother role. It took a bit longer with the kid genius, Jeremie, but it worked out eventually.

As it turned out though, he wasn't the only Lyoko warrior who was dealing with romance issue. William hadn't meant to lead Laura to the factory, he really hadn't, not intestinally, but he had. But after she fixed the virus, William thought that there wouldn't be a problem, and he thanked whoever that was watching out for him that he hadn't screwed up again. He knew that Laura hadn't exactly received a warm welcome, but she was willing to help, and besides, for whatever reason she wasn't affected by the returns to the past, so they didn't get a choice when letting her into the group.

But if he had known that she would mess up Jeremie's and Aelita's relationship William would have done more to stop her from coming.

It wasn't bad at first, Aelita was jealous over nothing, Laura was just helping Jeremie with projects, but after a while Aelita and Jeremie began ignoring each other, they weren't fighting, just pretending like the other didn't exist. He remembered Odd telling him "at least this way, they fight less." When William asked Odd what he meant he was surprised to hear that the two had, on occasion, said nasty things to each other and often lost their temper. The majority of this happened while William was a prisoner, so he hadn't been around to witness it, but he believed it.

William wasn't going to talk to Aelita about it, but he was glad to hear that he wasn't the only one dealing with rejection. Perhaps the two could find a sanctuary in each other because of known, and unknown, similarities.


End file.
